Climbing the Tower

Let us know when you, an associate or client makes a career change.

August 08, 2017

Kevin Dougherty Joins NATE Executive Committee

The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) has elected Board of Directors member Kevin Dougherty to serve on the Association’s Executive Committee. NATE made the announcement at the organization’s 2017 Summer Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Kevin Dougherty, CEO of MILLENNIA CONTRACTING, INC. in New Castle, Delaware, was elected to serve in the position of Secretary/Treasurer on the Executive Committee. Dougherty has been a member of the NATE Board of Directors for two years and has fulfilled a variety of other leadership roles during his tenure with NATE, including service on the OSHA Relations Committee and STAR Initiative Ad-Hoc Committee.

June 29, 2017

Centerline Solutions Names Tom Prestwood as CEO

Centerline Solutions has named Tom Prestwood as the company’s new CEO. Mr. Prestwood brings over 30 years of experience in the wireless and broadband telecom industry, including a successful track record of scaling growing businesses and orchestrating collaborations among carriers, tower operators and infrastructure providers. Mr. Prestwood is taking on this role immediately, stepping into the CEO position where he will be responsible for day-to-day operations and overall direction of the company, as well as serve on the Board.

Prior to joining Centerline Solutions, Mr. Prestwood was the CEO of TrueNet Communications, which provided high-quality network design, planning, implementation and support to major cable/fiber service operators, wireless carriers and service providers. He has also held executive positions at Conterra Tower Group, Conterra Broadband, NSORO Telecom Services, Spectrasite Communications and Vanguard Cellular One/AT&T Wireless.

“Everyone with experience in the wireless industry knows the quality of work that Centerline Solutions provides. I am excited to join the Centerline team and work with such great people as we build on the company’s success,” said Prestwood. “With the push for new technologies such as 5G, LTE, small cells and IoT, Centerline has tremendous opportunity for growth. The company has earned every bit of its great reputation as a trusted partner in wireless and is top of mind in the industry when it comes to quality work, expert problem solving, tower safety leadership, and much more. Our goal is to be the most trusted provider of wireless infrastructure services and we have a great team to make that vision a reality. We will continue to create success for our clients and embrace the future of wireless together.”

June 20, 2017

TESSCO Hires Joe Cawley as VP/CIO

TESSCO Technologies has announced the hiring of Joe Cawley as Vice President/CIO. Cawley has 25 years of experience in the technology industry and IT. Prior to joining TESSCO Cawley was most recently Vice President/CIO of IT for Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia. There, he led more than 80 IT employees to transform the Foundation’s assets and drive innovation in strategy, software development, cybersecurity, and service management for the hospitality, retail, admissions, research, and donors businesses. Cawley’s addition is part of TESSCO’s efforts to meet customer demand for a more streamlined online experience, where a growing number of customers are conducting their business.

June 13, 2017

Hodge Structural Engineers Hires Robinson

Hodge Structural Engineers (HSE) has appointed John W. Robinson, P.E. as Principal Structural Engineer, Tower Division, where he will supervise the engineering analysis, design and specialty services/structures for Broadcast and Communications clients.

A Professional Engineer licensed in 18 states, Robinson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in both Civil and Mechanical Engineering, and Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, from the University of Evansville. He is a member of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) T.R. 14 Committee and contributing author of the current TIA-222 and 322 Design Standards.

April 27, 2017

Cuddy & Feder Names Christopher Fisher Managing Partner

Christopher Fisher is the new managing partner of Cuddy & Feder, succeeding Joshua Kimerling. Fisher joined Cuddy & Feder in 1994 and was named a Partner in 1999. During his tenure at Cuddy & Feder, he has held various positions of leadership within the firm. He is currently chairman of the Firm’s Telecommunications Group, a practice he founded and will continue to head up, and is former chairman of the firm’s land use, zoning & development group, two of the largest infrastructure practices in New York and Connecticut. Fisher also served as a member of the Firm’s Management Committee from 2003-2013.

Over the years, Fisher has demonstrated, through his professional and personal endeavors, his commitment to the growth and development of Westchester County. In October 2016, as Chair of Broadband Technology for the Westchester County Association, Fisher helped launch the WCA’s Smart Growth Compact with the county’s four major cities – Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains and Yonkers – to bring gigabit technology to the region. The mayors of the four cities hailed it as the most significant and ambitious undertaking in more than a generation to secure the region’s economic future. Fisher was instrumental in bringing the cities together and helping move the WCA plan forward.

Fisher is also president and a founding board member of the New York State Wireless Association, which brings together wireless telecommunications professionals, government officials and the public to create a platform for a unified voice among the wireless industry.

April 20, 2017

Henkels & McCoy (H&M) has appointed Duke Horan to Senior Director of Telecom for the West Region. In this role, Duke is responsible for identifying markets, budgeting projected sales and revenues, and managing projects and programs that support the communications business in the West Region.

Horan has spent more than 18 years in the telecom engineering and construction industry. He has worked across the United States on last mile, middle mile, long-haul fiber, and wireless networks. Prior to joining H&M, he held multiple positions at Adesta (now G4S Technology, LLC), MFS Network Technologies, and Ecklebe Building Co Inc.

Horan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Nebraska Wesleyan University and is an active member of the Nebraska Association of Student Councils.

April 13, 2017

John Foley Named VP of Operations by Safer Buildings Coalition

The Safer Buildings Coalition selected John Foley as Vice President, Operations. Foley also serves as Operating Executive for Priority RF, an in-building wireless developer-manager that guides businesses in developing, designing, financing and managing mobile and public safety wireless systems. And before that he was with Henkels & McCoy.

“We are delighted to have John serve as Vice President, Operations of the Safer Buildings Coalition,” said Board President Jeff Hipchen. “John brings a strong combination of sales, marketing, technical knowledge, and business planning experience to the Safer Buildings team. He will lead our efforts to serve the evolving needs of our members and the public, and to advance Safer Building’s mission.”

March 28, 2017

Bagheri Joins Telewave as Chairman, CEO

Telewave has named Robert Bagheri as chairman and chief executive officer. Bagheri has more than 35 years of experience in executive, management, and engineering positions within the electronics industry. Before joining Telewave, Bagheri was founder, investor, and chairman of a stealth start-up serving the wearables and mobile markets.

He was formerly chief operating officer of 3D additive printing pioneer EoPlex executive vice president of operations, quality, reliability, and software at media conversion company Zenverge senior vice president of central engineering and operations, quality, and reliability at Applied Micro Devices, and executive vice president of operations at Silicon Image and SiRF Technologies.

March 07, 2017

Legacy Names Mills as CFO

Legacy Telecommunications, a wireless services company, has appointed Adam Mills as chief financial officer. Mills joins Legacy from a regional hospitality firm where, since 2011, he has served as director of accounting over two brands with thirteen separate locations. He also has experience in the audit arena and as a staff accountant. Prior to that, he served in the U.S. Army after earning a degree in accounting from the University of Utah.

February 21, 2017

Ginsberg Joins Digital Bridge

Jeffrey Ginsberg has joined Digital Bridge as managing director and chief operating officer, bringing more than 30 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience in telecom infrastructure and services, real estate and private equity. For the last nine years, he served as managing director and operating partner at Mistral Equity Partners. Before that, Ginsberg was the executive chairman of InfoHighway Communications, CEO of Eureka Broadband, co-founder and executive chairman of Apex Site Management, and co-founder of Horizon Cellular Group.

December 20, 2016

Benjamin Afton Appointed to NWSA Board of Governors

Benjamin Afton, Safety & Health Manager for the Telecom Business Line with Black & Veatch, has joined The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) Board of Governors. Afton was appointed to fill one of the seats reserved for the Large General Contractor sector of the industry.

NWSA is a national non-profit assessment and certification organization that has been established to provide thorough, independent assessments of knowledge and skills and provide verifiable worker certification in order to enhance safety, reduce workplace risk, improve quality, encourage training, and recognize the skilled professionals who work on towers and other non-standard structures.

Since joining Black & Veatch, Benjamin Afton has worked in various B&V telecom markets on a variety of construction projects from wireless to wireline. He formerly managed the B&V West Coast markets as a Regional Safety Manager for the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, and Las Vegas markets before taking an assignment overseas for the Black & Veatch Energy Group in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Upon return from that project, Afton became Regional Manager for the Midwest, primarily working on the AT&T Turf Project. Afton has currently transitioned to a new role of Business Line Manager for Telecom Operations within Black & Veatch, which is based in Overland Park, Kansas.

December 13, 2016

Wireless Telecom Group Names Michael Kandell as CFO

Wireless Telecom Group has hired Michael Kandell as chief financial officer, effective January 2, 2017. Kandell has more than 18 years of financial management experience. He held various positions of increasing responsibility in finance at Avaya. Prior to Avaya, Kandell worked at Precision Partners, Inc. for 3 years and at Ernst & Young in New Jersey for 7 years. He received his Bachelors of Science degree in accounting from College of New Jersey. Kandell is a Certified Public Accountant. Kandell will succeed Robert Censullo, who has served as Wireless Telecom Group’s CFO for five years. Censullo will report directly to Kandell as Corporate Controller.

December 08, 2016

Zinwave Names Slavko Djukic Chief Technology Officer

Zinwave has named Slavko Djukic its chief technology officer (CTO) to lead the development and refinement of technologies to improve the cellular and wireless experience for Zinwave’s enterprise customers. He has 18 years’ experience in indoor wireless technology development. He most recently served as Ericsson’s head of strategy and solutions for small cells, DAS, and Wi-Fi. Prior to Ericsson, Djukic served in a global technical role for Corning. Djukic also held a leadership role with Powerwave, where he built and led the technical indoor and outdoor DAS solutions organizations for North, Central and South America.

November 29, 2016

Kristen Motel, Allison Sloto Join Cuddy & Feder

Cuddy & Feder has added to Kristen Motel and Allison Sloto its Real Estate, Land Use and Telecommunications practices in White Plains and Hudson Valley, New York. Kristen and Allison are new to private practice, and they both come with backgrounds in land use and environmental law.

Prior to law school, Kristen worked as an environmental consultant, where she helped clients with compliance issues on projects ranging from wastewater treatment, air quality permitting and hazardous materials management. Prior to law school Allison Sloto received a Masters in environmental management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a concentration in research and writing on local land use and environmental protection.

November 17, 2016

Mark Athearn Joins Black & Veatch

Mark Athearn has been named East Region Public Safety Director for Black & Veatch’s Telecommunications business. Athearn brings nearly 35 years of experience in public safety communications and technology implementation including land mobile radio (LMR), broadband/LTE, system design and optimization as well as program management and procurement support.

Athearn has served as Black & Veatch’s Regional Director throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions since 2013. He will continue to serve clients in these regions and provide business development, sales and service quality support in the Southeast and Northeast regions, such as Baltimore County and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. His expanded role will comprise the states east of the Mississippi River.

September 22, 2016

USA GROUPS Appoints Lance Craft to Executive Leadership

Lance Craft, former vice president of sales of Dali Wireless, will join USA Group as its Chief Operating Officer of the DAS and Small Cells Group. Craft will be based out of USA Group’s regional office in Houston, Texas, in addition to operating out of their headquarters in Sarasota, Florida. Lance Craft has more than 25 years of experience in senior leadership positions in wireless telecommunications infrastructure design, development and project management, including American Tower, Powerwave and Verizon Wireless.

August 30, 2016

Westell Technologies Appoints J.J. Swartwood SVP, Worldwide Sales

Westell Technologies has named J.J. Swartwood Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales. Swartwood joined Westell in 2005 and brings nearly 20 years of experience in the wireless industry to his new position. Prior to joining Westell, Swartwood served in a number sales roles at HyperEdge, including vice president of sales.

August 30, 2016

FDH Velocitel Adds MacLeod, Ruben to Its Board

Richard Ruben, chairman of Sandy Feet Advisors LLC, and Jake MacLeod, founder and president of Gray Beards Consulting, have been appointed to the board of FDH Velocitel. MacLeod is a communications industry veteran with over 35 years of experience in network design, deployment and operations. He is the former executive vice president of Powerwave and former principal vice president/chief technology officer of Bechtel. Ruben is the former vice chairman and CEO of PEG Bandwidth. Before that, he headed XOS Technologies, WireOne Communications and V-SPAN.

August 25, 2016

Rivada Networks Names Joseph Sanzo as Chief Network Officer

Herndon, Va. — Rivada Networks, a New York-based designer and operator of wireless interoperable communications networks, has named Joseph Sanzo as its chief network officer. Sanzo spent the past 10 years as the chief technology officer (CTO) of SAC Wireless. In his new role, he will oversee network deployment and operations for Rivada Networks, and also serve as the chief network officer of Rivada Mercury, a company formed by Rivada and its partners to bid for the contract to build and operate a nationwide public-safety broadband network for FirstNet.

August 18, 2016

Cayla Crisp Joins Wilkinson Barker Knauer

Cayla Crisp has joined Wilkinson Barker Knauer in the Denver office as an associate attorney! During law school at the University of Colorado, Ms. Crisp served as a research assistant to Professor Ahmed White and interned for Judge Nancy Lichtenstein at the Colorado Court of Appeals and Judge William D. Robbins in Colorado’s Second Judicial District. She also served as associate editor of the University of Colorado Law Review and participated in moot court. She has experience working for a wireless infrastructure company.

August 16, 2016

Geldmacher Joins Sprint

Sprint has appointed of Jan Geldmacher, a veteran of European telecom companies, as president of Enterprise. He will oversee business-to-business sales and business development, supporting enterprise customers with wireless communications solutions and services. Reporting to Marcelo Claure, Sprint president and CEO, Geldmacher joins Sprint from Vodafone where he led Vodafone Global Enterprise, a business unit responsible for defining the strategy and operational execution of the company’s relationship with multinational corporate customers. He also previously served as Vodafone’s director of the Enterprise Business Unit, CEO of British Telecom Germany.

July 26, 2016

Preethi Pillaipakkam Joins Black & Veatch

Preethi Pillaipakkam has been hired as Business Director – Public Safety Communications for Black & Veatch’s Telecommunications business. In this role, Pillaipakkam will lead sales and execution of all public safety engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects. She will utilize her experience managing large scale strategic sales initiatives and be based out of the company’s Dallas, office. Pillaipakkam has nearly 15 years of experience in public safety mission critical radio systems with specialized expertise in land mobile radio (LMR) industry, LTE and FirstNet.

July 21, 2016

Ranplan appoints Alastair Williamson as CEO

Alastair Williamson has been appointed as CEO of wireless network design specialist, Ranplan. Williamson brings over 25 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry working for companies such Cambridge Broadband Networks, Alcatel Lucent and Krone, most recently working as head of Global Sales at Ranplan, which is a UK-based developer of software tools for outdoor/indoor wireless network planning, design and optimization, using advanced 3D building modelling and radio propagation simulation

July 14, 2016

Thomas Dolislager Named VP

Thomas Dolislager has been named vice president of wireless for Communications Sales & Leasing (CS&L) in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is responsible for the acquisition, development and operation of wireless assets for CS&L, which is a REIT spun out of Windstream Communications in 2014 that owns nearly 4 million strand miles of fiber, 85 cell towers, and 1,100 fiber rich sites for new towers.

June 28, 2016

Flash Technologies Announces Personnel Changes

Amanda O’Connor was named Business Development Manager – Southwest at Flash Technologies. She joined business development team last November and is based in Dallas. Connor Costelllo was named Business Development Manager – Northwest. He came to Flash from Cargill, where he managed sales for their metals division. Octavius Price joined the Service Department as Tower Technician. Previously Price was a top hand tower technician at General Dynamics and has worked on Verizon LTE and ASW projects with Goodman Networks.

June 22, 2016

Jocko Vermillion Joins CITCA

Jocko Vermillion has joined CITCA, the safety training organization, as Vice-President of Safety Management Services. He will work with both CITCA clients and with clients of CITCA’s sister company, Sorensen, Wilder & Associates. Vermillion previously was the Vice-President of Safety Controls Technology in Ohio.

June 15, 2016

Sean O’Reilly Joins ICC Wireless

ICC Wireless welcomes Sean O’Reilly, RCDD/DCDC to the team as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Located in southern California, O’Reilly will be leading the company’s business development initiatives, leveraging its established presence in key western U.S. states. O’Reilly has been working in the telecom industry since 1999, and is currently one of fewer than 200, dual-certified, RCDD/DCDC designers globally.

June 01, 2016

Chuck Slagle Named Executive Director NWSA

Wireless Industry Veteran to Provide Leadership for Assessment and Certification Program Development Efforts

(Overland Park, Kansas) – The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today the hiring of wireless industry veteran Chuck Slagle as the organization’s Executive Director. Slagle, who previously served NWSA in a consulting capacity, is a former Sprint Environmental Health & Safety Executive with over 38 years of experience in the industry. NWSA’s leadership announced the hiring at the 2016 Wireless Infrastructure Show in Dallas, Texas.

“NWSA is ecstatic to announce Chuck Slagle as the organization’s first official Executive Director,” said Board of Directors President Don Doty from FDH Velocitel, Inc. “Chuck has been instrumental to NWSA during the organization’s formative stages and in his enhanced role as Executive Director will be able to spearhead the initiatives necessary in getting NWSA’s ANSI Accredited assessment and certification programs to market,” added Doty.

NWSA is a non-profit assessment and certification organization that has been established to provide thorough, independent assessments of knowledge and skills and provide verifiable worker certification in order to enhance safety, reduce workplace risk, improve quality, encourage training, and recognize the skilled professionals who work on towers and other non-standard structures.

“I am honored to serve as the Executive Director of NWSA and look forward to working with the organization’s Board of Directors, Board of Governors, Committee Members and Subject Matter Experts,” declared Slagle. “I believe that the national assessment and certification program currently under development by Task Force members from across the Industry will have a positive, transformational impact on the industry long-term,” said Slagle.

Prior to his retirement from Sprint, Slagle held various positions within the Sprint EHS department, including Director of EHS. He holds certifications in Safety, Risk Management and Business Continuity. Slagle has also held leadership roles with the Environmental Health and Safety Communications Panel (EHSCP) and Wireless Industry Safety Task Force. He serves on the Crisis & Disaster Management Degree Advisory Board at the University of Central Missouri (Warrensburg, Missouri) and the Safety Degree Advisory Board at Purdue University (Calument, Indiana). He is a past member of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and served as a member of the NFPA 76 Standards Committee for Fire Protection of Telecommunication Facilities.

May 19, 2016

Sprint Taps New Sales Directors

Sprint recently announced three new sales directors reporting directly to Jim Mills, president of Illinois and Wisconsin region. Russell Heder will lead Sprint’s retail organization, Mike McCauley will lead the indirect distribution organization and Monty Sauder will lead the small-medium business organization for the Illinois and Wisconsin region.

Heder, McCauley and Sauder’s appointments follow Sprint’s announcement that it will restructure the company into four geographic areas – West, Central, Northeast and South – with targeted resources devoted to 17 top regions, including Chicago.

May 11, 2016

Connie Lewis Joins S&N Communications

Connie Lewis has joined Columbia, MD-based SCE, a subsidiary partner of S&N Communications, as construction project manager. In her new role, Lewis is responsible for bid walks, crew hiring and oversight, and ensuring projects complete on time and on budget. Lewis, whose father owned a construction company, has more than 20 years industry experience. Former positions include technical projects and construction project manager for Sprint, as well as project manager positions at Alcatel-Lucent and Nexlink Global Services.